FURTHER DISCOVEi;V OF DUGONG BONES —ETHEKIDGE. 19 



tlie surface, but still leaving traces of sharper blows. On the 

 other (PI. iv., fig. 3), the scars are confined to the centre of the 

 bone and are transverse to its lengtli. 



The occurrence of these hacked bones at the Macleay iliver 

 adds corroborative evidence f)f the use of the Dugong as fcxxl by 

 the old Aborigines just as it is now partaken of by their descend- 

 ants fuither north, and adds another record of the animal's 

 presence on a part of the eastern coast-line not now frequented 

 by it. This case may be accepted as an example of the good 

 results likely to arise by a systematic examination of our coast 

 middens before they have totally disappeared through the agency 

 of modern man. The importance of midden exploration cannot 

 be too forcibly impressed on those who may have facilities for 

 such work. It is only through the excavation of similar heaps, 

 the examination of interments, the exploration of the hearth-refuse 

 heaps of rock-shelters, and the opening up of ossiferous caves that 

 we can now liope to learn much about the habits and manners of 

 the earlier inhabitants of this Continent. 



